Re:Just How Much Money Do “Influencers” Make?
by skookumchuck on Monday June 18, 2018 @09:02PM
(#17342959)
Starting a restaurant easily can cost $25K in those days. Yet people did it all the time.
Don't overlook that Microsoft was IBM's second choice. Their first was Digital Research.
And lastly, I haven't been able to find any evidence that Gates Sr. funded Microsoft with at $25,000 check. Citation needed! Certainly there's no mention in the book "Hard Drive", and my recollection is that he started MS with $5,000.
There's nothing Bill Gates did at the time that a very, very large number of people could have done, if they'd only thought of it and had been willing to risk it. I knew many computer people at the time, and they dismissed PCs as toys and saw no future in them. Including many who had money to invest in such a startup.
However, that $25K check is the difference between Microsoft being a solidly growing company up against someone else that IBM anointed vs Microsoft is the anointed one.
$25K was about 5x the price of a car at the time. That makes it about $150K in modern dollars.
How many people can cut a $150K cash check because their kid says it's a good idea? Even most "millionaires" can't cut a check for cash at that level.